Home Depot to close 15 stores, lay off 1,300

The Home Depot Inc., which recently reported its first annual sales decline, will fire 1,300 workers and close 15 underperforming U.S. stores as it cuts back on store expansion plans.

The Atlanta-based home improvement retailer said the moves will cost it $586 million in charges, $547 million of which will be recognized in the first quarter of fiscal 2008. It says it hopes that the revised expansion plan and store closures will improve free cash flow, provide stronger returns for the company and allow it to invest in existing stores.

North Carolina will not be affected by the closures. Home Depot (NYSE: HD) will shutter stores in Fort Wayne, Ind.; Marion, Ind.; Frankfort, Ky.; Opelousas, La.; Cottage Grove, Minn.; East Brunswick, N.J.; Saddle Brook, N.J.; Rome, N.Y.; Bismarck, N.D.; Findlay, Ohio; Lima, Ohio; Brattleboro, Vt.; Beaver Dam, Wis.; Fond du Lac, Wis.; and Milwaukee, Wis.

The closing stores represent less than 1 percent of the company's existing store portfolio but will affect some 1,300 employees.

http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/stories/2008/04/28/daily30.html

with a bunch of boxes from China with "Made in USA" stickers plastered over the "Made in China" stamps?

:hi:

john menard is the king here in the upper midwest. he advertises on air america in chicago i guess he`s not bad a guy

We don't have any here in CO. Is it just like Home Depot and Lowes?

they had a very large store in Iowa City, no more than 5 or 6 years old, that they closed to build an absolutely monster-sized store just a couple of miles from that original location!

fairly working-to-middle class, but it is in central Jersey and at a crossroads of towns that would suggest people are doing ok. So for both of those stores to be targeted proves something serious is going on in the economy.